A Baseball Interview With: Gary Poster By: Adina M. Edwards Pennsylvania History Dr. David Dixon November 22, 1994 A Bit of Baseball History Quest i on : Answer: Question: Let me start by asking your name. My name is Gary Foster. Ok, and can f have some of your background that you have in baseball? Answer f managed Little League Basebalt in Evans City. fortunate to play in 1953 when the Little first organized in Evans City. four teams and it's was League was It started off with now got twelve. And I was for- tunate enough to end up managing a Little team that...it I League was the Cubs and f managed them for about seven years then I went on to do Pony League Baseball in County League and American Legion and uhhh...got out of that and qot invloved in softball. Question: And you said you managed and coached r |ou umpire now? Answer: Yes. Quest i on : Ok, and what do you think that baseball has contributed to the community of Evans City? Answer: I think it's gave the kids that participate a chance of learning the game and keeping them out of trouble and just giving them clear minds if it's taught right. Baseball is what the managers or coaches are. words , if you have a manager or coach that's for one reason, just to win a gold trophy, first Other- there become place, dnd just use his best kids and not play everybody else; f don't feel this is the way f was brought up and the way f coached. It f had fifteen : boys on my team everyone played three innings. I didn't win any championships, but f knew the kids got to play and down the road what happens is if they don't p1ay, they don't continue on playing basebal Question: 1 . And you said that or you stated before we started this, that Evans City holds tournaments. Can you elaborate a little bit on that. Answer: Yeah, Evans City has Littl-e ments. They have...Litt1e League Baseball tournaLeague is based orrr they use the same rules as the Little out in Williamsport, League World Series Pennsylvania. a team fo out to participate They never had there, but we have been fortunate enough to have umpires that. . . I have a friend that has done two Little League World Series in WilJ-iamsport, Pennsylvania. And myself, f have never done anything like that, but it was a dream. But, then I got into the Amateur Sof tball- Associat,ion and f 've done Meadville's slow pitch and fast pitch National and State Tournaments. I managed a softball team out in York, Pennsylvania in a National Tournament and in 128 teams we finished sixth. Which was a bunch of young kids and it was a great honor. had me crying and my wife. It It was a Labor Day Tourn- ament, a three day tournament. Quest j-on: You just stated a memorable experience, but is there any other memorable experiences that you've had in throughout your years invol-ved in baseball? (2) Answer; Yesr f've had many, that actually, but you mean something f remember that f was involved in baseball that f feel was. . . Question: Answer: Yeah, like you just statedr |ou know, on Labor weekend, something, anything else? I've had something. Day I was fortunate enough that in 1970 at the church up... the Reformed Church in Evans Sity I was fortunate enough to meet Roberto Clemente, and it was a great honor beeause to me, he was the greatest baseball player that ever lived and it was tragic the way his tife had five, tially ended and is...poten- tenr mdlbe five, ten more years of baseball, but Robert Clemente was my idol and I stood in line, the church is right here in Evans City, it's up on the hil1, and he was a Born Again Christian and he was giving this tal-k and what I remember about it so much was his broken English. He could not talk much English, but he was so funny because he addressed... I was thirteen, fourteen years ol-d at the time...but what f can al-ways remember about Roberto Clemente was he was the kind of person r ds good as he was, he was a family man. And all he talked about in front of the kids and the people that were there was his life on Earth wasnrt to be a baseball pJ-ayer. It was to be a husband and a father and f'11 never for- qet that because I this tape and if you look at this tape, everything that f'm telling you is what he stood for, but f look now and see all these baseball (3) players on strike for all the big money and his biggest year was $150,000 and they're asking for That was my greatest honor. three or four million. I got to personalj-y shake his hand and f got an autographed pictue vhich my mother burnt, didn't know it was in the box when I went to the Air Force. It would have been worth something. Question: Wow, what is the, is there any differences in the game of baseball now than what there wdsr like say ten, twenty years fifteen, Answer: Question: ago? Yeah, the... or whatever...you know playing Like in officiating or officiating? Answer: The rules have changed. Not so much in baseball as mueh as softball. umpires. We We have have tvo groups of softball what f've talked about, the A.S.A, which is an Amateur Softbatl Association Certified, then they have a Tripl-e A.S.A Umpires Assocoation and it' s a l-ittle bit dif f erent than the A. S. A. The A.S.A wears bl-ue uniforms Iike the regular umpires, navy blue pants, light the insignia A.S.A. blue shirt, blue hat with U Triple S.A. wears a red shirt, why, f have no idea, a black shirt with U Triple A.S.A, they a mat in there strike zone. We umpires, we play slow pitch softbaLl, it's use foot arc. an A.S.A six to ten And what that means is when the ball was released from the pitcher's dip or do not. arc. hand it had to have a It can't be any lower than six feet and it can't be any higher than twelve feet. (4) And if its Question: Answer: over twelve feet it's an illegal pitch and if it's fl-at and no arc on it, it's an illegal pitch. That's the on1-y difference. A friend of mine told me about this, I don't know if it's in Minors or Little League or what, but there's a rule about you have to slide into home is that...? Softball has this. (That's softbalL. ) Baseball might have it too in your younger groups of organized, like Littl-e League. Waht it is, is to protect the players from getting injury. A.S.A Amateur Softball rule is you must slide at home if there is a play being That's to protect the catcher. You are not a1l-owed to come in and boil the catcher over, hit him with your arms r ot knock him over. You have to slide. There can't be no intention of hurting a person. That's on any base. An umpire's decision is... what our rule is, if you feel- that someone intentionally tried to take a player out, boys or girl-s, intentionally tried to hurt them they are ejected, they're out ejected from the game along with their manager. This is A.S.A rul-e. So, you have to slide into almost every...every base? You don't have too, but what the rule says; that any base if you feel a person is not sliding to hurt someone or to break up the play, it's dt it's a judgement cal-l-, but you must slide. You don't have to slide at every base, but the best thing to do, especially in amateur softball is to slide because there, they're on a player. Question: Answer: made (s) safety minded. They're there to protect anybody. Yourre there to play the game and not to hurt anyputs alot of safety in their one. And A.S.A strictly game. That's why now they eome wittr helmets. in an league must wear a helmet. Girls They are not allowed to take the helmet off at anytime. Even after the play is made and they are walking to the dugout, they keep the helmet on. The reason is A.S.A is a proven faet that sometimes a player will take their helmet off and be walking, a wild throw hit them in the head and cause damage. The rule is, if you feel, and I get this at every tournament f go to, Hey ump, somebody throws their helmet off. of the girl too big on her head, f can because it's but we tell If it comes off I can teII. them to wear straps. tell this, it's on her head and she qoes like thisr her head back, I know she intentionally it ot run. Alot of girls like wearing the helmet. will- do this. But, if ?nd throws got rid of They don't They don't like wearing their hats, but the League, the tournament rules is; everyone is in uniform. has a hat on. Question: Answer: Quest i on : Answer: If one girl has a hat on everyone If nobody has a hat oor that's fine. Does hat go for men, boys too? Right. ok. Any sanction A.S.A League or Tournament has a uniformed coat. Question: Ok, now that you're mentioning girls, ca1led Title Nine. f believe it's 1t lets girls play in the game. (6) Answer: Quest i on : Answer: Question: Answer: Question: Answer: Is that what that's caIled. Did you...Iike I don't know somebody told me that...Title Nine, which ltes girl-s play in the game which was a rule or something that 1et girls play in Little League, that's what it was called. Oh. I don't know that, but f know that softball we have leagues like f'm doing down in Beaver Falls right now, f'm helping out District Ten Umpires in a co-ed league, and what that is is twenty-eight teams, they're all co-ed, it's five guys and five gir1s. The rule states that you ean not start a game without fove girls and four guys. It can't be five guys and four girJ-s. It has to be f ive girls and four guys. You And what it is, you bat a guy, girl, guy, girl. can't bat two guys. Nor two gir1s. Or two girls no. Ok, Do you... But I've never heard of that. f was just told thatr so I was just wandering if that's what it was caIled or when it...Do you know when it came into effect, that girls were all-owed to play in Little League or anything? Or was there a rule that said they couldn't? Yes, they did have a rule where...f don't know if it was a rul-e, but you just didn't see girls participate in Little League Baseball. But, back three or (7) four years ago there is girls in what f mentioned, Little that even participated, League World Series. There vas one played this year. Question: Ok, because baseball, alot of peopte say it is becoming like a science, like throwing the ball and batting. People say that throwing is becoming a science because more people are getting homeruns. I don't know...Have you heard anything about, I think this is in the Major Leagues r ot whatever, making the outfield bigger or the wall higher. Answer: They've talked about it. Question: They've talked about it. Ok, how d.o you feel about this? Answer: I feel that, if it takes t,his to make the game better played that they should do d,t,. f don't know if you have heard, but aluminum bats, they use aluminum bats in sof tbaII, but they don't use al-uminum bats in pro- fessional- baseball, but they do use them in college baseball. But, a basebatl comes off and aluminum bat like a torpedo and if the Majors ever used it they'd have people kiLled. line drive to the pitcher, They wouId. Head injuries, couldn't see it. I don't think the Major Leagues would ever go from the bat, but softball Question: wooden has aluminum bats. Do you agree that pitching is becoming a science of, you know, is becoming a science, people are becoming such good pitehers? (B) Answer: Question: Answer: Yes I do. More so than what it use to be. Theytre bigger, bigger guys, learning more different pitehes, stronger, throw faster. I can remember when f was growing up playing Legion Baseball- and stuff myself, when you heard of anybody throwing a sixty mile per hour fastball, man, he was a terrific pitcher. Today they're averaging in Triple A and Double A Minor League Baseball CAmps, they've got kids, nineteen twenty, throwing seventy-five to eighty mile per hour. And they've even clocked pitchers a 100 miles per hour/ It is...they are getting stronger and faster. Ok. I understand tha you've had a letter of intent to be a Major League umpire, can you expJ-ain a little bit more about that. Yes f can. When I rras umpiring baseball with the P.I.A.A, I didntt know it at the time, but I received a letter from Harry Winderstat, which is a professional umpire, professional baseba1l, and it was a fourteen week school, but f was working at the corporation at the time, which was Mine Safetyr drld I went and asked to have a leave of absence to go to the school and they couldn't do it, so I didn't...couldn't just quit my job because I was young and just started the job and didn't want to lose it. So, I didn't go. But, I was very proud that somebody did feel that I was a good enough umpire to give it a Bhot. And being (e) a Major League umpire is not and easy thing. You have to be good at what you do, but you're trained. They have...in fourteen weeks you have like a boot camp in the Service, physical-r 1rou have to learn and show all your fundamental mechanics, that, the out sigR, safe sign, dead ball ca1ls, which is the same thing an A.S.A umpire. When T go to clinic as I go in front of a Board to do a State or National, they have three or four men which watch you. You wear your uniform, they look for your dress, they'11 holler out, safe, dead ba1l. or different and you have to give the mechanics which is done with your hands. Safe is down to your hips, straight a dead balI, 1rouE out. Out is out. come We have right arm goes up and down. That means you have a foul on the fiel-d, it's runners ean't advance. Things like this. was a proud moment, but I didn't a dead ba1l, Yes, it get to do iL, but that's why now f 've been invol-ved in Amateur Softball umpiring going on twenty-eight years. Quest i on : And as an umpire I guess you see alot of trouble on the field, and tou stated that sometimes the parents get more carried away than the plyers Answer: Yes, especially in Little do? League Basebal1. Alot of the parents forget the kids at that alle are there, not to win, they're there to learn fundamentals of baseba1l. Myself, the biggest thing rhr bothered me was even when my boys were playing the g[ame, and even when I was playing the game, some of the parents forget that the kids are there to learn the game and not to win the (10) gold trophy. until Little I feel competitiveness shouldn't be Pony League, the age of fourteen or fifteen. League ahould be everybody should get a chance to play, l-earn the game, be good sportsmen about it winning is secondary. Being a good sportsman is and number one, and f feel that even as they get up in the Legion, with being an umpire I see alot og kids and alot of of good attitudes I can tell and I see the negative side too, but the kids that tras brought up from a manager or a coach or even an umpire if the tact of teaching sportsmanship is number one and winning is immature. Sure, everybody likes to be a winner, but to be a good winner you have to be a good loser too, because you don't always win. Quest ion : And uhh...basebalI past-time. is known as America's favorite Hov do you feel about that? I mean with al-l the other sports out there. Answer: I feel, myself because I've been involved in baseball. I was sma1I all the through school-. I never got to play footbalI, f was too small. But, basebal-l is the National past-time because of all ages. You have Adult Leagues in baseball. The same you as you do in Softba1l. What they call Eagle County League. You have Sandl-ot teams around the area, which are semi-pro. And guys that just want to play good enough to get to the prosr but sre good enough to play Sandlot ball. in Pittsburgh. (tt1 Alot down Question: And uhh...to wrap things up, now that we said that baseball is America's favorite past-time what do you think about the famous salary cap and the baseball strike? Answer: How do you think about that? I personally, f think it stinks, but, that's opinion and the reason I feel this, my I,m not knocking alot of the baseball players, because, but f don't feel not just in the sport of baseba11, hocl